Falls Apart
by vampiresquid42
Summary: **ON HIATUS**Yuui and his twin SISTER Fay live normal lives until one day, their world is torn apart when Yuui mysteriously disappears after a fight with Fay,leaving his sister devastated. She wants to save him with the help of some mysterious travelers.
1. Twins

**Hello! This is my first fanfiction, so don't expect it to be perfect. **

**I thought of this idea a little while ago, but just wrote the beginning and decided to post it. **

**Warning: There are spoilers in here for those who have not yet read the Celes arc, and probably also the Tokyo arc, and maybe the Infinity arc (I haven't decided yet). **

**Disclaimer: I unfortunately do not own Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles; CLAMP does…or do?…whatever is correct grammar for this situation... **

**Anyway, enjoy!**

_The boy stood on a pile of bodies. His blonde hair caked with dirt and blood, his own and others'. He was very skinny, as if he hadn't eaten for a long time, which was actually quite accurate. He tried to climb up the sheer rock wall, but to no avail. He fell down, yet again, and stared at his fingers, all the skin scraped off, reflecting on the many failed attempts at the climb. _Fay…

"_Do you want to get out? Out of there," said a deep voice suddenly. He stared in shock. "It's not a dream. This is reality." It said to him. _Get out of here…that would be really…nice_…"That wish, I will grant it…" the voice continued. The boy stared at his scraped and bloody hands, speechless. _

"_But only one of you can get out…" it said ominously. "Choose, you or the other one." The boy looked at the source of the voice. _

_Then, he looked up to the sky, to the top of the tower where one who looked like him resided. He saw the bars over the window break all the way from where he was. And he saw something in the air, falling from it. As if in slow motion, the boy watched it fall towards him, motionless and head first._

_There was a loud, sickening crack a few feet from the boy. He just stared, wide eyed. A huge puddle of blood splattered around the small body, identical to his. The body of his twin._

"_You have chosen. This is the result. You chose to erase that life. Now you must bear the responsibility. This…is a curse."_

The blonde man woke with a start. He was still disturbed by that dream, though he had had it nearly every night for years after the incident. He shook his head to clear it and to distinguish to himself the past from the present. _Fay, one day I will atone for my mistake. I _will _bring you back, _he thought to himself. _I must._

XXXXXX

IN ANOTHER WORLD:

Beep-Beep! Beep-Beep! Beep-Beep!

The girl rolled over in bed and smacked the button on her alarm clock, only to roll back over and go right back to sleep. She was a deep sleeper and she probably performed that motion without even having to wake up all the way. She was in the middle of a pleasant dream that she did not want interrupted by the real world. That was a futile wish, however, because soon her door opened and a boy pulled all the covers off her bed, forcing her to open her eyes to glare at him.

"Come on! Get up, lazy! We have school today!" he said to her cheerfully and teasingly.

"We have school practically every day," she grumbled and continued to glare in a way that would have made others flinch; however, the boy was used to it. "You interrupted my dream," she continued to grumble, "and now I forget what happened in it. I think it had something to do with cupcakes…"

"Well, I'm sorry I interrupted that dream," he laughed, "But I made breakfast! Your favorite: blueberry pancakes with lots of syrup!"

This made the girl perk up and she immediately got out of bed and headed for the kitchen. She always had enough energy for food!

"Ah! Get dressed first, then food!" he said sternly, as if talking to a child.

"Oh, come on! I'm sooooo hungry!!" she whined. At a stern look from the boy, she sighed, "Whatever."

So she got dressed quickly and brushed her hair. _Wow…I must have been restless last night! My hair's a mess! _She thought as she kept getting her brush stuck in her long mane of blonde wavy hair. She stared at herself in the mirror, tweaking things here and there trying to make herself look as perfect as possible.

"Hurry up, Fay! I thought you were hungry! It shouldn't take half an hour to get dressed! It's just school! Unless, you have a date today or something?" Her brother teased. Then he came into her room and stood next to her facing the mirror. They looked each other over noticing how similar they looked. Anyone would have thought they were identical except for the difference in gender. "How do I look, Yuui?" she asked her twin.

"You look fine!" he reassured her. "I still don't understand your obsession with how you look. You are probably the prettiest girl in our school, but you still worry so much about it!"

"You'd never understand how much effort girls put in for guys like you, _oh, Prince of the School,_ who simply gets out of bed and you're ready to go!" she teased him right back, using the nickname given to him by the girls in their school, which she knew would annoy him to no end.

"I get dressed…" Yuui defended with a scowl. "But, that doesn't matter. Your breakfast is getting cold," he said, stopping the conversation in its tracks before it got out of hand.

"Oh yeah!" Fay said enthusiastically and she ran to the kitchen, "Last one there's a rotten egg!" And both twins took off at a run. Fay, having had a head start was in front, but she was soon overtaken by Yuui who decided to slide down the railing of the stairs as opposed to using the steps. He jumped and reached the kitchen in a few long strides. "No fair!" Fay whined, out of breath, "You cheated!"

"Hey, don't blame me just because you didn't think of it first!"

And the twins laughed with each other as they ate their breakfast together, teasing each other constantly, as close as two people could be.

Neither of them knew that this would be the last breakfast they would have together before their lives got turned upside down.

**I know nothing really happened yet, but this is just the intro to the characters and everything.**

**Okay, in this Fanfic, to avoid confusion:**

**Fay=Yuui's sister (both of them, because they are not easily confused because one died and one is alive as a teenager)**

**Yuui=teenage brother of Fay**

**Fai= older Yuui, magician of Celes, dimension-traveler**

**Thank you for reading, and please review! I may update soon if I don't have too much homework. I already basically have the next chapter written X3**


	2. Ordinary Day

**Hi! Another chapter, Yay! It took longer than it should have for me to get this up. Too many other stresses in my life…**

**Anyway, the title for this Fanfic is from the song, Falls Apart by Thousand Foot Krutch (awesome band). The song title just sounded right and the lyrics kind of match with the story, so I figured I'd use it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own TRC. Period. **

**I hope you enjoy!**

Fay and Yuui arrived at school together, like always, and also like always, received stares and whispers from everyone.

"_That's Yuui Flourite". _

"_He's only the prettiest guy in school and he is so cool and kind!"_

"_I hope he notices me! Look over here, over here!"_

"_Oh my gosh! Our eyes just met! I think I might faint!"_

"_Stupid jerk, stealing all the girls' hearts…"_

"_He's so pretty and just aaahhhhhh!!"_

The twins usually tried to ignore all the comments from the crowd and act as if they couldn't hear any of it, however, today was especially annoying to Fay for some reason and she was about ready to go beat up on someone. Then, she spotted a person who immediately distracted her from her anger and she ran over to him, forgetting about everything else.

He was a tall boy, standing at the entrance of the school waiting for her. His black hair came out in spikes all over his head and a few loose strands of hair fell on his face as he stood leaning against the wall. He looked bored, the stolid and emotionless look on his face that never seemed to change…

"Kuro-tan!!"

…except for now. Now his face was a comical mixture of rage, surprise, and fear, as it always looked when she called him this nickname: rage at being called a stupid-sounding name, surprise at said stupid name – as if he didn't hear it several hundred times a day, and fear at the knowledge that his girlfriend had just arrived and he will now get no moment of peace until they both went home that evening.

Fay still remembered the day they first met. There had been rumors going around that a new kid was coming to their school. They said that he had been forced out of his old school and moved to their school, but no one knew the reason.

Everyone in homeroom was gossiping about the new kid when the teacher walked in practically dragging the black-haired teenager into the room and to the front of the class. Everyone went silent and the boy mumbled, "Kurogane, that's my name," and nothing more. He glared at the class.

Meanwhile, in the seats, Fay had fallen in love with the boy's angry demeanor. She raised her hand and said loudly "Mr. Brown, can Kuro-pon sit next to me, please?!" All attention in the room was turned to Fay in surprise.

"Um, sure, Fay…if that's what you want..." he said hesitantly.

"Yes, please. Come on Kuro-puu, come sit down!!"

Attention was directed back to the boy at the front of the room and the class was surprised to see the face of rage that is now so familiar to Fay. The class flinched in their seats, hearts pounding, fearing for their lives, but Fay just smiled at the boy, showing no indication of fear. She actually looked quite amused.

The boy sat down, huffing and puffing, and glared at the smiling girl beside him. "My name's Kurogane," he said forcefully, still glaring.

"Aw, you don't like the nicknames I gave you? I thought they were cute!" Fay said. "Anyway, I bet you didn't get nicknames in your old school. Why were you kicked out of there? I bet it's because you were a bad boy!" she teased.

Kurogane got even angrier. Fay continued to smile.

It continued like that for pretty much the entire day. Unfortunately for Kurogane, he had every class in common with Fay, so he never got a break. Finally, it was the end of the day, and Kurogane was relieved that he could finally leave the strange girl and have some peace. He smiled at the thought.

Unfortunately for him Fay saw the smile and said, "See, Kuro-puu! Didn't you have fun spending the entire day with me?" she teased. "We should do this again everyday! I know! How about you become my boyfriend! Then we can spend all the time we want together, we'll never have to be apart!" Kurogane froze in surprise at the randomness of the request and Fay seized the opportunity to give him a kiss and then run away towards home.

Kurogane may have thought she was kidding at first, but he soon learned that she was completely serious. He tried avoiding her, being mean to her, running away, ignoring her; nothing worked. She just kept finding him and punishing him with a playful punch in the arm (which doesn't feel very playful at all, coming from her; and hurts quite a bit more than one would expect from such a scrawny-looking girl).

Eventually, he gave up trying to get away from her and just surrendered to her and played along. At some point, he may have developed feelings for her… Maybe… And that's where they were today: a happy couple!

Except for one thing…

"Why hello, Kuro-sama!" Yuui said, smiling sarcastically, as he walked up to the two of them.

"_Prince_," Kurogane said just as sarcastically.

"Hey, guys, no fighting today, please," Fay pleaded. Whenever the two of them saw each other, they managed to start arguing, and Fay just didn't want an unpleasant encounter to encroach on her otherwise good day.

"Who's fighting? I was simply saying hello," Yuui told his sister calmly.

"Yeah, well, I know how it usually ends up."

"It's not _my _fault that your boyfriend reacts angrily when I am just being polite."

"What?! You're the one who's always all sarcastic! You hated me since the moment you met me!"

"Don't take it personally, Kuro-rin. I'd hate anyone who was going out with my sister." Yuui said, with the same calm smile he kept on his face the entire time, though he was wondering to himself how Kurogane could tell that he hated him.

With that, Kurogane tried to lunge for Yuui, angry at his attitude. "Stop!" yelled Fay as she pulled Kurogane back hard and she glared at her brother. "Enough, both of you! You're making a scene!" And indeed they were. If they didn't have the attention of everyone before, they sure had it now.

"Yuui, just go talk to some of your friends or something. Leave us alone for now." Fay said quietly without looking her brother in the eye. He knew she was upset with him; he just didn't like someone taking his sister away from him.

"Fine, fine. I'll go. But, don't you lay a hand on her, Kuro-tan!" The last remark earned a death glare from Fay and he chuckled and walked away.

"Ugh, Yuui can be so immature sometimes! I'm really sorry, for him," Fay said to Kurogane, who was about to say something when…

Beeeeeeeep!

"Oh, that's the bell! We're going to be late! Come on Kuro-rin!"

_I hope the rest of the day goes better than this morning…_Fay thought to herself as she ran into school and dragged her still angry boyfriend behind her.

**A/N: yeah I know, basically another introduction chapter, giving some background. Kind of boring. I think the next chapter is when more stuff is going to happen! I'm so excited!**

**Please review!**

**And thank you reading and favoriting! That made me happy!**


	3. Selfish Wish

**Finally getting to a part where something happens!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles by CLAMP. Or the song Falls Apart by Thousand Foot Krutch. **

**I hope you enjoy! (or maybe don't, because it's kind of sad…)**

_School sucked today!! _Fay thought to herself as she stormed home as quickly as she could.

She got home and slammed the door open –surprising her brother who was cooking pancakes for dinner at the time– and stomped to her room. Yuui was in mid-flip when this happened and he was so startled that the pancake he was cooking flew high in the air before coming down straight onto his head, splattering him and parts of the kitchen with pancake batter. It would have been comical if anyone were there to see it.

After cleaning himself off, Yuui walked up to his sister's room and found her lying face down on her bed. Not being able to see her face made him unable to see what was wrong, and so, making it hard for him to decide how to help. After some thought, he decided to try to joke around with her. _Making her laugh usually works!_

"Hey, Fay! You made me fail epically in my pancake flipping and now me and the kitchen are all messy! What's up? … Did Kuro-puu run away again? Like I've been telling you this whole time – he is not good enough for you, you should dump him–"

"SHUT UP!" his sister yelled suddenly. "This is all your fault! None of the girls in school want to be friends with me because I'm _the Prince's _sister! They're too intimidated by your popularity and they stay away from me. The ones who do try to be friends with me are just _using_ me as a way to get closer to _YOU_! I hate this! – It's like I'm not even my own person; just a way to hook up with the Prince! Sometimes I just wish we weren't twins!" And she glared at her brother with angry tears running down her face.

Yuui froze for a moment. He was not expecting her to explode on _him_. He stood up quietly and arranged his features into a calm, smiling face, hiding what he was actually feeling. "Well, if that's what you want…" He said quietly. "There's dinner on the counter. I think I need to go walk for a little while." And he walked slowly through the door and shut the door behind him.

Fay continued to glare at the door for a minute or so before she managed to cool down a little bit. As soon as that happened, she regretted what she said. _Why do I do this? _She asked herself. _I don't mean it. I love being a twin. I love Yuui. It's just – he's just…annoying sometimes…But it is his fault for acting all cool so that everyone likes him and focuses on him instead of me. _She thought angrily, trying to justify her outbreak on him.

Fay sat down to eat her dinner, but she realized that she wasn't really all that hungry. Regret won out over anger and she decided to go find Yuui. She didn't really have to search. She knew where he went to think things over when he was feeling emotional and wanted to be alone: the tree grove in the woods on the edge of town that they found when they first moved there. They built a fort in that grove together when they were kids.

Fay walked silently, listening to the sounds of the cicadas starting to chirp and the occasional child's scream as they tried to hold on to the game they were playing as long as they could before their parents called them inside. They were comforting, familiar noises. Then, she was surprised to hear a not so every-day noise: sirens. _What could be going on at this time of night?_ A fire truck sped past her. _A fire?_

As she approached her destination, the sirens got louder and louder and soon she could see the flashing lights and smoke rising into the air, coming from the woods.

She ran as fast as she could, trying to keep her brain from leaping to dour conclusions. _It can't be Yuui! Nothing could have happened to him, I just saw him ten minutes ago! _As she approached the woods, she saw 20 to 30 firemen surrounded by just about everybody from the neighborhood. Then she saw the grove. She couldn't believe her eyes. Trees were still burning (the source of the smoke) and there was a giant crater where the grove used to be. Everything was black and burnt to a crisp.

_No! No! NO! _she yelled in her head. Fay's brain went into shock. _No one could possibly have escaped that! There's nothing at all left! What the heck happened? It looks like a small bomb exploded right on this exact spot!_ _YUUI!!!_

Then the still slightly logical part of her brain surprised her by noticing that there was no ambulance and no one in the crowd looked particularly horrified or worried, just a bit curious. The firemen were not rushing. That must mean that no one was hurt!_ Or at least there was no evidence of someone being hurt. Yuui could have just been burnt to nothing just like everything else…NO! Don't think like that! Yuui has to be okay! He was probably on his way back home before the grove was hit! Yeah, that's it! I must have just missed him on my way here and he's probably at home now worrying about me!! Ha! How could I be so stupid to worry about him!_

So, half-filled with hope, she returned home, running as fast as her legs would take her. When she arrived, she slammed open the door, part of her expecting to find him there waiting for her with another pancake on his head because of his surprise. But she didn't. No one was home. It was her, all alone, like she selfishly wished for earlier. Her eyes filled and tears threatened to overflow. _No! I can't give up yet! He could still be out there somewhere! Maybe he just got lost or decided to go away for a while to teach me a lesson or to play a joke on me! Well, I learned my lesson already and it's not funny anymore! I'll just go apologize and tell him to come back home!_

She walked outside; trying to keep herself determined and not lose hope. She searched everywhere: his friends' houses, neighbors' houses, the school, the park, the restaurants. She even searched at Kurogane's house as a last resort. He wasn't in any of those places. No one in town had seen Yuui. Her brother was nowhere to be found.

Finally, she came back to the grove. By this time, the only hope she clung on to was that of finding something, anything, of his that could prove to her that either he was alive somewhere, or he was dead, buried under the ashes of the fort. She searched for a piece of his clothing, or even a piece of his body that had been blown to bits and scattered. _At least then I would know what had happened! _

After an hour, she came up with nothing at all. The sun was beginning to rise in the sky. She realized that she had searched all night. She was exhausted and simply paced around the burned ground. Finally, her foot snagged on a tree branch unearthed by the explosion and she fell flat on her face onto the destroyed ground.

She did not have the strength to live anymore, let alone get off the ground after she fell. She faintly noticed that her nose was bleeding. When she fell, she _really_ fell. She finally started to let the tears overflow that she had been holding in all night. _Yuui, where are you? _She thought hopelessly to herself as she lay there, too tired to get up, breathing in the ashes from the ground so close to her face, blood and tears running down her cheeks. _Don't leave me. I need you…_

**A/N: Waaaaaaaaahhhh!! So sad!! **

**Yuui: I know! Why did you have me explode??**

**Me: …**

**Yuui: What?**

**Me: Aren't you not supposed to be here?…**

**Yuui: Oh yeah. I guess I have to go back to where I was cap – **

**Me: Shhhh! Don't give away what happened! **

**Fay: Wait, what does cap- mean?! Captain? Capybara? CAPITATED?! You gave him another head?! **

**Me: Hehe…You'll have to wait and find out!**

**Anyway, I think the next chapter will have the actual Tsubasa team show up!! Yay! (though, that chapter may not be out for a while. Almost finals time...ew…)**

**I also don't have the next part written at all like I did with these first 3 chapters. **

**Plus, I haven't even totally decided how to do it yet. Should Sakura be there, or separated and on her own little adventure, or just be not there at all? What should little Kurogane be doing the whole time? Tell me what you think I should do as a REVIEW!!! I have only had my close friends review my story so far, and they don't really count! Please!!!**


	4. Fateful Meetings

**I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long! Finals got me out of the groove of writing fanfiction and my brain does not work very well in the summer. Its funny, when I have lots of stuff to do, I want to write fanfiction, but during the summer, I'm just not feeling it…and now I'm going to stop pondering my phychological issues and let you enjoy this chapter! (which is longer than other chapters as a gift for the really long wait)**

**Disclaimer: CLAMP owns Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. Thousand Foot Krutch owns the song Falls Apart. I am neither a mangaka nor a band, so I own nothing. **

The group of travelers was leaving once again. Every time they left a world, they felt sad. They had to experience the loss of friends every time, without ever knowing if they would ever see them again. As the magical dimensional swirls surrounded them once again, they all tried their best to hide their sad feelings, as well as anxious ones stemming from the fact that they have no idea what kind of world they will end up in next.

Then, the group felt the familiar sensation of being tugged into space and they began to fly in that disorienting way. Then, something a little bit different happened. They seemed to hit a bump in the dimensional tunnel, if that is possible. It might have been a result of a break in the flow due to a certain evil man's plot, or even the meddling from a certain witch who had expertise in this matter. Whatever it was, it flung the group off in different directions. Fai, already being close to Kurogane clung onto him and Shaoron as well on his other side. However, Sakura, being the tiny and delicate princess she was, got flung slightly farther.

"Sakura-hime!" yelled Shaoron.

Shaoron desperately reached out to her, but he has always had a problem reaching out for things, so this time as well, he was not able to grab hold of his princess.

**A/N: Sorry, I couldn't resist putting the joke based off Shaoron standing on a rock for an entire chapter trying to reach Sakura, when he could probably have reached if he just jumped or something. So I joke about his reaching problem…hehe….anyway, back to the story:**

Then, in a glop, the group arrived at their destination, leaving Sakura to fend for herself in another world. They landed in a pile and Kurogane only grumbled slightly this time about the way Mokona dropped them, as opposed to his usual yelling fit. Shaoron was mortified, his failure bringing back memories of his past. Fai came over to talk to him.

"It's alright Shaoron-kun. I'm sure the princess is fine. She probably simply landed in a different spot, not far from here. We got separated pretty close to landing, so I'm sure she is in the same world as us at least. All we have to do is find her."

"You really think so Fai-san?" asked Shaoron, much like a lost child.

"Of course. Now, let's see where we landed exactly…"

For the first time, they looked around at their surroundings. They could see houses around them with trees and pretty little backyards; a seemingly peaceful town. However, what caught their attention was the area directly surrounding them. The ground was covered with ash, trees were burnt, some still smoking, and there appeared to be the remnants of a small shed-like structure right in the middle, also burned.

"Did we do this?" asked Shaoron, taking his mind slightly off of his lost princess.

"Of course not!" Kurogane scoffed. "We never cause this kind of damage when we land. It must have been something else."

"What do you think could have happened?" asked Fai, to no one in particular as he stared at the destruction..

"Hey, what's that?" asked Kurogane suddenly. They all turned where he was approaching what looked like a girl, lying face down in the ash. The other two followed close behind him.

Then, Fai saw the girl a little closer and he ran quickly to her side. _It can't be, it just can't be… _

He picked her up off the ground and turned her over. His face flashed shock, fear, and sadness at the same time.

"Fay…" he said quietly.

XXXXXX

Fay was emerging from her darkness, as her sleep had had no dreams this time. She actually felt warm, surprisingly. She had thought she was lying on a cold ground covered in ash, but where she lay now was soft and warm…and almost familiar…

She opened her eyes to see where she was. What she saw made her think that maybe she hadn't woken up after all. _It's Yuui…Yuui…"Yuui!" _She said the last one out loud and with that gave the person holding her in his arms a big hug.

"Oh, Yuui! I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have said those things to you! I felt so bad you don't even understand. I came out to apologize and there was this explosion and I thought you were dead! …..I'm so sorry!!" As she said this, she started to cry and weep into his shoulder.

All three of the travelers froze in shock. Kurogane and Shaoron had no idea who this Yuui person was the girl was talking about and they looked at Fai for the answer. Fai's heart might have stopped for a moment. His eyes were wide with shock as he gaped at the girl, barely to hold back the tears that rolled down his cheeks.

Fay finished much of her persistent crying and apologizing before she realized that something was different about her brother. He was slightly taller, and wider in the shoulders. He was wearing a sort of pure white fuzzy coat that tickled her nose. His hair was longer and pulled back in a ponytail at the back of his neck. Plus, he wasn't talking to her or trying to comfort her, or even hug her back as much as he should have.

Then, like a flash of lightning, she became aware of her surroundings. She was still in the ashen grove, covered in ashes and dried blood.

"You're not Yuui…" she said.

She got up and off of him quicker than she would have thought possible in her weakened state.

"CREEPER!!" She yelled, thinking the man had come to kidnap her while she lay there helpless.

"Wait, hold on!" said Fai, getting up off the ground, recovering from his shock.

"KIDNAPPER! FIRE!" she continued yelling to get people's attention.

Fai ran over to her and put his hand over her mouth before she even noticed he moved. "Relax," he said calmly. "You were the one who hugged me, not the other way around. I only saw you lying on the ground and went to see if you were okay. That's when you woke up and started crying onto my shoulder."

Fay took a good look at the man talking to her. Like Yuui, he was blonde with blue eyes, or should she say, eye, because the other was covered by an eye patch.

"Are you going to stop yelling now?" He asked, smiling kindly at her.

She looked suspiciously at him, but gave in and nodded her assent. With that, he took his hand off of her mouth and chuckled. "Besides," he said, "I'm not the kind of person who would assault helpless girls." Then, his smile turned mischievous, "You might want to watch out for Kuro-pon, though. He can be…"

"WHAT WAS THAT, YOU IDIOT?!" yelled a familiar voice from behind Fay. She whipped around to see a man, who looked eerily similar to her boyfriend standing and glaring at the blonde man angrily. _Did that man just call him Kuro-pon?! _thought Fay.

"Who…who are you people?" asked Fay suspiciously.

"We're travelers," answered Shaoron, making Fay notice him for the first time.

"Yes, and we have nowhere to stay, might you know of a place?" asked Fai innocently.

"Well, there are no hotels, since we are kind of a small town, but…" Fay looked at the travelers. They did not seem dangerous, even if they had weird similarities to people she knew. Plus, she could not just leave them out on the streets. "I guess you can stay at my house for a little bit. We….I…have a little room open since…since…Ahhhhh!!" and the tears started flowing again.

"Hey, it's alright. No need to cry," said Fai, holding Fay once again. "May I ask why a young lady like you would be crying in the mud?"

"Hey, wizard!" called out Kurogane, "Look over here!"

"Hm?" Fai got up to look closer at what Kurogane was pointing at. "Oh my. It seems there may have been some kind of struggle that happened here."

"What?" asked Fay, "What do you mean?"

"See those slashes in the trees – Here and here."

Indeed, there were large, smooth cuts in the trees, as if they were sliced by a rampaging, sharp object. _How did I not notice these before? _Fay thought to herself.

"What exactly happened here?" Fai asked, serious for once. "You said there was an explosion?"

"Well, it seemed that way. I didn't see what happened. All I saw were fire trucks and people surrounding this area and the firemen said there must have been some kind of gas leak that caught on fire or something like that."

"So, there was a fire?"

"I guess! Everything was all burnt and smoking when I got here and there were fire trucks so I _assumed_ there was a fire!" Fay said, starting to get angry. "Why are you asking me these questions? Do you know anything about what might have happened here?" His calm, repetetive questions were starting to get on her nerves.

Fai finally looked her in the eyes. Fay was surprised to see such a deep sadness, in the eye that stared back at her, it was as if he was sharing in her grief.

"_Do you really think he could have…?"_ Fai muttered to Kurogane and Shaoron a few feet away, looking sad and concerned.

"_Damn kid! Not again."_ Kurogane cursed to himself and punched the tree nearest him in frustration.

Shaoron just stared into the sky with a determined look on his face.

"What? What's going on? Tell me what happened!" Fay begged desperately.

"I think your brother was captured," Fai said softly.

_Captured!? Like, kidnapped? Well, at least that means he's still alive, right?_ This gave her a small spark of hope, that was soon distinguishe by her next thought, _But wait! What normal kidnapper causes this kind of damage? _Fay thought, horrified. _If they did this to the trees … what could they be doing to Yuui…? _

XXXXXX

_How the hell did this happen to me?! _The black-haired teen thought to himself as he hiked down the mountain, in the rain, carrying some random girl he had never seen before today. He was wet and confused, and that _really _pissed him off.

The day had started out normal enough: he went to school, got pestered by that girl constantly, fought with the girl's brother, and went home. Just like always.

It was Friday, his day to walk to the store and buy groceries for his many brothers and sisters at his foster home. He and all the other children were orphans whose parents were victims of war. A nice couple who own an Inn took in all these children and care for them all very well. However, taking care of so many children is hard work for one couple, so they often rely on Kurogane, the eldest, to help them out with things, like grocery shopping.

Therefore, he was on his way to do just that when he noticed some kind of commotion going on a few blocks away. There were sirens, fire trucks, and a huge crowd, but there was no one being loaded onto ambulances or anything, so no one got hurt. He figured it was just some kind of prank a kid played that got out of hand and caught the woods on fire. He did not feel like dealing with the crowd, so he decided to take the longer way around through the woods on the mountain. He liked it up there anyway and used any excuse he could to walk through the tall trees and be alone for a little while.

He was walking like that when something out of the ordinary happened. He was minding his own business when the sound of someone yelling interrupted his thoughts. He looked up the mountain to see a girl frantically running and yelling something he could not make out. Then, he watched her unknowingly running towards the edge of a cliff. He tried to shout to stop her, but she could not hear him and he watched in horror as she lost her footing and tripped right off the edge. He began to run.

The cliff he saw the girl fall off was farther away and harder to find than it had originally seemed. It took him two hours before he finally made it there and found where, exactly, she fell. It was lucky for her that there were shrubs at the bottom of that cliff, or Kurogane did not know what would have become of her.

So, that is how Kurogane ended up carrying a random girl down a mountain. The rain was just an added bonus.

Kurogane finally made it into town. The good thing about the rain is that it kept people inside, so they would not bother him about what he was doing with an unconscious girl. It also washed away a lot of the girl's blood from her fall that had been all over her and Kurogane.

Kurogane decided to take the girl home instead of to a doctor's office, because his foster mother had experience in medicine and he did not know who this girl was, but he had a feeling she was not from around there and he did not want to get her into any kind of trouble by bringing public attention to her.

When he got home, he was greeted by a loud mob of children who all stopped short when they saw what he was carrying.

"Geez, Kuro-tan, we told you to bring home groceries, not a girl…" His foster father, Sorata joked, as he too walked through the door.

Whack!

That was his foster mother, Arashi, smacking Sora in the head with her cooking pan.

"What's wrong with her?" Arashi asked quietly. Kurogane told her what happened.

"That sounds serious. I am going to wash off the remainder of the blood and wrap up her injuries. You can go clean yourself off as well, Kurogane."

Soon Arashi had the girl patched up perfectly.

"That's my Honey! Good at everything she does!" praised Sora, which received him another whack in the head.

When Kurogane walked in, Arashi said, "She's all finished, but it may be a while before she wakes up."

Kurogane decided to sit by her until she did. He remembered how frantic and confused the girl had been before she fell, and he did not want her to wake up and be just as confused and cause who-knows-what-kind of destruction to herself.

He had just begun to nod off to sleep after his long, confusing day, when the girl started to stir. He got closer, prepared to hold her down from jumping out the window or something. She looked like she was having a nightmare. She was starting to whimper. He leaned closer to hear what she was saying.

Then, she muttered, "Please…Don't take Fai-san…"

Kurogane fell back and exclaimed, "Fay?!" _How does this girl know Fay?_ He backed away from her. Maybe, there was more to her than what there seemed…

**Fai: Waaaahhhhh!!!! She called me a creeper! Kuro-rin, she called me a creeper!!!!!!**

**Kuro: GET OFF ME! YOU **_**ARE**_** A CREEPER!!**

**Fai: Waaahh!! Kuro-pon called me a creeper, Shaoron!**

**Shaoron: What?! Fai-san, please don't bring me into this…(Shaoron runs away as Fai tries to give him and Kurogane hugs)**

**Fay: (to herself) Is this guy really an adult…? He's definitely not Yuui with **_**that**_** kind of personality…Is he?**

**Me: Sorry, Fay! You'll have to wait and see! **

**Kuro: **_**Hopefully not as long this time…**_

**Me: What are you thinking over there Kuro-rin? I'm the writer, you know, so I can see what's going on in that ninja brain of yours (though its not much). **

**Kuro: What did you say you – **

**Me: Please review! I will really try not to make you wait as long for the next chapter. Please forgive me!!**

**P.S. For clarification for people where the slang is different, creeper = stalker, but in my opinion sounds like someone who preys on helpless girls in general, not stalks a specific person. And I don't know if it is proper to put P.S. when its not a letter, but I don't really care right now X3**


	5. Questions and Answers

**Hi again! I'm in a writing mood this week. Don't get used to it…X3**

**OMG!! (yes, I really did just say that) I just got the new Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days today!!! I'm so freaking happy!!!**

**Anyway, here's the chapter:**

**Disclaimer: TFK owns "Falls Apart" the song. CLAMP owns Tsubasa. Deal with it.**

_The first thing he saw was the hollow in the woods, and his fort, all in that fuzzy quality of dreams. However, something was different. It was in ruins, ashes everywhere. Then, he noticed a person laying in the middle of all the destruction. He looked closer. It was a girl, with her face in the ground. She was covered in grime, her once pretty blonde hair matted with mud and even blood. He got even closer and she looked up, as if noticing him for the first time. Her face was full of fear, grief, and regret. Clean streaks on her cheeks showed where her tears washed off some mud as they rolled down her face. He knew that face…_

"_Fay…" _he whispered.

XXXXXX

_Ow._

That was the first thought of the blonde teen when he woke up from the dream. He was hurting everywhere, and could not quite remember why. Then, he painfully tried to sit up and caught a glimpse of his body. He was covered in burns and cuts. He was lucky to be alive. He tried to remember what happened. _That's right, I was at my fort. Fay and I just had a fight and we both needed time alone. I know she was just having a rough day, but I was really surprised she took it out on me. Then, she said she hated me and wished we weren't twins anymore…I guess, sometimes, I wish the same, so that I don't cause her trouble all the time…_Fai cut himself off at that thought. He did not need to hurt himself emotionally as well as physically.

_Try to remember. Try to remember. What happened next? _He could not make himself remember, no matter how hard he tried.

XXXXXX

"So, what were your names again?" asked Fay as she walked the strange group back to her house.

"Oh, I'm sorry. So much happened, we must have forgotten to introduce ourselves," said Fai. "This boy right here is Shaoron and the dark cloud over there is Kuro-puu –"

"KUROGANE!" Kurogane protested.

"And my name is Fai D. Flourite" and he gave a little bow.

"Fay? That's my name!" Fay exclaimed. "I mean, you probably had it longer than me, since you're older. Or maybe you're not older! … you just look a little older than me is all and…"

"Relax, it's okay. I have been around…a rather long time," Fai said, staring slightly off into the distance, making Fay think that what he said meant more than it would for a normal person.

"…So, you guys are travelers, huh?" Fay asked, trying to change the subject.

"Yes." Fai answered, coming back to earth. "Our group is usually larger, but a few of our members are no longer with us…" Fai looked back at Shaoron, who was staring at his feet looking like he was in pain.

"Oh! I'm so sorry…" Fay said. _I just can't seem to avoid the taboo subjects with this group!!_

Fai looked puzzled for a moment, then laughed, "No, I don't mean that they died, we just got separated on our way here. We're hoping to find them again."

"Oh, okay." She sighed. "Ah, we're almost to my house!"

And indeed they were. In front of them loomed a house, the size of 2-3 of the houses around it.

"_This _is your house?!" exclaimed Kurogane.

"Well, yeah. Me and Yuui lived here our whole lives practically. Yuui mostly takes care of the cooking and cleaning, I'm not very good at that kind of thing…"

"What about your parents?" asked Shaoron, emerging from his momentary depression.

"Um…my Mom died when Yuui and I were born. The doctors said the stress of having twins was too much for her heart, which was already a little weak to begin with. Then, Dad was so overwhelmed with grief over her death that he went kind of crazy and now he lives at the asylum in the city. And since he is still alive, Yuui and I aren't technically orphans and the Social Services people said that we are old enough to live alone. They just send someone every once in a while to check on our health and the condition of our house and stuff."

"How can you afford to meet all your needs and keep up this huge house?" asked Kurogane.

"My great uncle invented some kind of thing for World War II and made a lot of money off it. When he died, Dad was the only relative he had left, so most of his money got passed to him. The rest was sent to a bunch of charities to help traumatized soldiers. Ironic. He made the money off a weapon used in war, then gave the money to soldiers who went crazy because they had to use it…" Fay said bitterly.

"That's just the way the world works." Fai chimed in to the conversation. "You make a bad decision, and hurt a lot of people, and then you spend your whole life trying to repay the world for your mistake, only hoping that it can somehow be good enough." Something in his tone told Fay that he said this from experience. "Well," and suddenly his tone changed, "Why don't we go inside instead of just standing out here in the cold."

XXXXXX

_Previous Chapter:_

_The girl muttered, "Please…Don't take Fai-san…"_

_Kurogane fell back and exclaimed, "Fay?!" _How does this girl know Fay? _He backed away from her. Maybe, there was more to her than what there seemed…_

Kurogane was speechless, trying to figure out what who the girl was. Then, he saw her shirt start to move. It looked like something one would see in cartoons. The lump started crawling up closer and closer to the opening in the shirt at the girl's neck. Kurogane held his breath, afraid of whatever was going to crawl out of this strange girl's shirt. Then, the lump stopped. Kurogane moved slightly closer and suddenly this white ball of jumped out of her shirt towards Kurogane.

"HOLY #%&!!!!" yelled Kurogane.

"Watch your mouth little Kuro-puu!" said the white thing.

"It can talk?!"

"Mokona's not an it, Mokona's a Mokona!" said the fur ball.

"I don't care what the hell a _Mokona _is. This is starting to get way too weird for me. First, this random girl runs off a cliff and almost dies. I carry her home and then she doesn't wake up. I'm just about to fall asleep after my long day when she almost wakes up and mumbles something about that annoying blonde girl being taken somewhere. Now a white I-don't-want-to-know-what pops out of her shirt and its freaking talking to me?! What has this world come to??" says Kurogane frantically.

"Relax, little Kuro-puu. Sakura wasn't talking about a girl being taken. The one Mokona saw was a boy."

"But, she definitely said Fay. And Fay is definitely a girl," Kurogane explained.

"The Fai-san I know is a man," said a voice from beside Kurogane. Sakura finally woke up. "So, there is a Fay in this world as well?"

"Yeah, she and Yuui are sister and brother and they both annoy the crap out of me…Wait, this _'world'_?" Kurogane asked.

"Yes, my friends and I are travelers. We go to many different worlds looking for my feathers: my memories."

_This is getting weirder and weirder…travelers who go to different worlds, memory feathers? What next?_

"Wait, how do I know you are telling the truth, that you're not just trying to trick me or something?" Kurogane asked suspiciously.

"We know that your name is Kurogane. You are the same as one of the men who travel with us, only younger," said Sakura. "And we both apparently know a Fai, even if the Fai here is a girl."

Kurogane was shocked. It was creepy that these strangers knew who he was. And they travelled with an older him. _I wonder what the older me is like…I hope I'm cool, _"Wait, you said you saw Fay being taken away, but which Fay were you talking about, mine or yours?"

"Um…" Sakura hesitated. "I'm not sure. I thought at first it was our Fai. It was a boy with blonde hair who looked like Fai, but maybe he did seem smaller. And now that I think about it, it didn't look like he had Fai's eye patch or coat. It must have been the younger Fai."

"Yeah, but the Fai in this world is a girl," Mokona said.

"Hmmm…You said that your Fai has a brother, Yuui was it?" Sakura asked Kurogane.

"Yeah," He said, "They're twins."

"Mokona and Sakura must have seen Yuui then!" Mokona said triumphantly.

"That's nothing to be happy about! Yuui was kidnapped! We have to tell the dumb girl!" Kurogane exclaimed.

"I thought those two 'annoyed the crap' out of Kuro-puu," Mokona said, imitating Kurogane's voice.

"Yeah, well…" Kurogane didn't know what to say that wouldn't make him sound like a total wuss.

"It's okay, Kurogane-kun. Let's go find Fay."

XXXXXX

"I'm sorry that I'm making my guests cook. Yuui always did these kinds of things. I would probably burn the house down," Fay said apologetically to the group in the kitchen in the middle of making dinner for everyone.

Fay watched everyone as they expertly cracked eggs and chopped vegetables. She felt so useless. She watched Fai especially. Something about the way he was cooking seemed familiar. The was he flipped omelet and sautéed the onions….It was just like Yuui.

"I've been wondering," Fay said, without completely meaning to. _Stupid mouth, don't just say what I'm thinking! Oh, well, may as well finish what I started…._ "Why do you, Fai and Kurogane, look like people I know and have the same names as me and my friend?" she asked.

The group in the kitchen froze. "Well, you see," Fai started, "We are not ordinary travelers. We travel through worlds rather than countries. Shaoron, Kurogane, and I all come from different worlds and we are on a quest together to find one of the members missing from our group, Sakura's, memories, in the form of magical feathers. Mokona, another missing member, is our mascot of sorts and transports us from world to world."

"That doesn't explain anything about your names or appearances," Fay insisted.

"In different worlds, there may exist people with the same appearances and personalities, but they are different people. Allies we find on one world may be enemies on the next. We continually meet many of the same people, but they each have their own stories and lives," Fai told her.

"Okay, that explains the Kuroganes, but what about you. You have the same name as me, but unless you're hiding boobs under those clothes, you are not me. You look exactly like Yuui, though…" Fay said suspiciously.

"It must be a coincidence…" Fai said nonchalantly. "Oh, no! The food is burning!" He quickly changed the subject.

Fay knew he was hiding something, but she let it go for the time being.

XXXXXX

After dinner, Fay showed everyone their rooms and was going to get ready for bed when she spotted Fai and Kurogane in the hallway. She quickly hid behind a corner. They looked like they were talking seriously. Kurogane had Fai cornered with his arm and was glaring at him. Fai could just hear their low voices.

"What are you hiding from that girl, magician?" Kurogane asked sternly. "You should know better than anyone that there is no coincidence."

"I'm not hiding anything Kuro-tan." Fai smiled innocently, "We have never seen any instance yet of people being the same if they have different genders, so there is no reason to believe that that is the case now."

"I know, but there's no way you and that girl are not related in some way," insisted Kurogane.

"Do you think her theory about my being a girl is correct? Do you want to check?" Fai asked provokingly.

"I give up." Kurogane responded and sulked away to his room.

Fai sighed and his smile disappeared. He looked so sad.

Then suddenly, "You can come out now," he said.

Fay almost had a heart attack. She slowly walked out from behind the corner and cautiously walked over to him.

"I'm assuming you heard that conversation," Fai said.

"Yeah," she said quietly, "You and Kuro-sama have an interesting relationship…"

"Hehe" Fai laughed gently. Then he sighed and looked at Fay, straight into her eyes, as if trying to decide something. Apparently, he came to his decision when he said, "Would you like to come to the balcony with me?"

"Sure…" Fay said hesitantly and they walked out to the balcony off of Fay's room, on the far side of the house, away from everyone else.

"Is there anything you want to talk about?" asked Fai when they got there.

Fay was shocked. She could tell that he wasn't the type to simply talk to anyone. She had just seen him totally avoid talking to Kurogane, who he has been travelling along with. And now, he wanted to talk to her, whom he just met?

_Maybe, he means anything that is troubling me. Like Yuui. Maybe he really doesn't want to talk about himself. _

Soon, Fay found herself saying, "Me and Yuui are best friends. We get on each other's nerves a lot, but we still love each other more than anyone else. It wasn't always this way, though. I used to hate him. He was always the one who got all the attention. He was cute, but shy, and always hid behind me, so of course, the adults always wanted to try to coax him out of hiding and play with him. Then, there was me. I was loud and sometimes obnoxious. I wanted so much attention, but I rarely got it because the adults always thought I was annoying. So there I was, wanting the attention, but not getting it while my little brother was getting all the attention, but he didn't want it. I was so jealous and I hated him for the attention he got from people. I think I've always felt guilty about hating him like that. I still do sometimes: get jealous and hate myself for it…In fact, that's what we fought about right before he was kidnapped…"

She didn't even notice she was crying until Fai wiped the tears from her cheeks and looked into her eyes sadly. "I feel so guilty," Fay said and started sobbing.

"I know, I know. Shush, shush. It's alright.," Fai soothed her and hugged her tightly.

"What if he's being tortured right now, or worse, and he thinks that I hate him. I'm his only real friend and he doesn't even think I love him anymore! What should I do……?" Fay sobbed even more.

"Don't think like that. I'm sure Yuui knows that you love him. He wouldn't give up on you like that, after all the years you had together. He would never blame anything on you," Fai said.

"How do you know?" Fay asked desperately.

Fai hesitated. "Because that's how _I _would feel," he said quietly and looked away from her.

"What do you mean?" asked Fay.

"I…don't think I can hide this from you. You'll figure it out soon anyway." _I really hope this is a good idea. _"My name really is Yuui."

**A/N: I didn't originally intend to have him tell her this just yet, but the opportunity just presented itself. I also figured that if I didn't get the plot moving now, I might never finish the fanfiction. I hate writing, always been my least favorite thing in school, and yet I'm writing a fanfiction…**

**Kuro-teen: If you hate writing so much, why are you doing this.**

**Me: …I don't** **know…Do you want me to stop and leave you to deal on your own with the fur ball and the crazy memory-loss princess? Hmm?**

**Kuro: No! Please don't! **

**Me: Then shut up with your logic!! I want to play my new game!!!**

**Kuro: (under his breath) Otaku…**

**Me: (throws whatever I have handy at Kuro-chan, which just happens to be a golf club, and goes happily back to fangirling over cute Axel & Roxas scenes)**


	6. Tooth Fairy

**Here's another chapter! I wrote this…about a month ago…but then never really posted it…I finally got it up thanks to Azule228 reminding me everyday to put it up.**

**So, the story is moving along faster than I thought it would, but that's okay with me, because if this fanfiction was too long, I would probably never finish…**

**Enough out of me: here's the story…after the disclaimer:**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Thousand Foot Krutch's song **_**Falls Apart **_**nor do I own CLAMP's Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. **

**Enjoy!**

_Previously:_

"_I…don't think I can hide this from you. You'll figure it out soon anyway." I really hope this is a good idea. "My real name is Yuui."_

"What?" asked Fay, stunned. _He's actually telling me? _"Then why did you say your name was Fai?"

"Fai is my name, now."

"So, you really are another Yuui…"

Fai sighed and gazed out at the stars, "My sister's name was Fay, just like yours. Fay was always much more outgoing than I was. When people spoke to us, she always did all the talking. I was just a coward who hid behind her all the time. She and I were as close as you and your brother, if not closer with all we went through. At least that's what I thought…" Fai said with a strange edge to his voice.

"What happened? I mean, why isn't she here with you now?" Fay questioned, curious about his last sentence.

Fai glanced at her and quickly switched his gaze back to the sky. "She died."

_Why do I keep bringing up painful things? _Fay frantically tried to think of something happier to talk about.

"So, what happened to your eye?" _This is happier?!_

Fai raised his eyebrows at her sudden change of subject. He had expected her to ask how, and he would not have known what to answer. He probably would have lied.

"My eye…umm…did I tell you that I am a wizard?" He asked.

Fay was caught off guard. "No, but I think I heard Kurogane call you that a few times and I wondered why…"

"I lived in a world where there existed magic and Fay and I had some of the most powerful magic in the country. In fact, the 'D' in my name is a reflection of my title as a wizard." He started to scrutinize the stars again.

"What does this have to do with your eye?" She was really curious now because of his blatant attempt to change the subject again.

"My magical power is contained within my eyes; the blue color to be more exact." Fai explained to her.

"So…someone wanted your magic, and they stole your eye?!" _That's so gross…_

"Yes. A good friend–lost himself–and fell under the control of a very bad person…" Fai answered sadly.

"I'm sorry. Your life has been so hard and I've been whining about Yuui being kidnapped. At least he still has a chance of being alive…"

"Don't talk like that! Don't compare your problems to other people. The pain you feel is heartbreaking, so of course it matters. We are going to help you find your brother and get him back!" Fai declared passionately, really looking her in the eyes for the first time.

Fay was startled. "You're really going to help me? I thought you were looking for those memory feathers."

"Well, we always seem to run into them if we just follow the flow of events. Your brother's kidnapping may have something to do with a feather…" He responded, and then quietly added, "And how could I not help my big sister…"

Fay blushed. _It is _really_ weird for a grown man to be calling me his big sister…but this is Yuui, so technically I am, but it's still weird…_

"Ha-ha, your face is funny! You're blushing!" Fai chuckled, back to his old happy-go-lucky self.

"Oh, shut up." Fay said, smiling back at him and punching him in the arm playfully.

"Ow, that hurt!" Fai laughed and clutched his arm in mock pain. It was almost like she and Yuui were back together again. _I'm glad I could cheer him up a little, _Fay thought to herself.

XXXXXX

_Meanwhile:_

Despite what Sakura claimed, she was not in good enough shape to be up and moving yet. Her wounds were still healing and she might open them again if she started moving around.

"I'm so sorry. I'm always so useless!" she whimpered dejectedly to Kurogane. She was trying her hardest not to cry.

"Hey, please don't cry! It's too late to go over there anyway. She'd be asleep and she probably wouldn't hear the doorbell in that huge house." _Besides, I'm tired…_He thought to himself. He would not admit his weakness outloud, though. "I'll talk to that girl tomorrow. Just go to sleep and heal quickly so we can get going…"

No sooner had he finished talking, did he collapse on the floor, in a position he would be embarrassed to let anyone see.

_He's so peaceful and cute, _Sakura reflected. _He really is still a child, _and then she fell asleep as well.

XXXXXX

The next day, like he promised, Kurogane was on his way to Fay's house to tell her about Yuui. He was not looking forward to it. _She's probably a mess already, thinking that her twin brother is dead_. _When I tell her Sakura saw him being kidnapped, she'll be crying and everything_… Kurogane doesn't know how to deal with crying girls… _Ugh. What am I gonna do...?_

His ominous thoughts were interrupted by a bright flash and explosion coming from the direction of Fay's house. _What the heck was that? What's going on over there?_

XXXXXX

Fay opened her eyes groggily. She yawned loudly and looked at the clock. _11 o'clock!? I never sleep this late! Why didn't Yuui…_Then she remembered what happened. She turned herself over and put her face in her pillow and tried to clear her mind of negative thoughts.

Then, there was a noise. It was a small click and then a sliding sound. _It must be a burglar_, she thought to herself. She wasn't in the mood to deal with this right now, so she decided to pretend she was asleep. She heard footsteps walking towards her bed. _What if this isn't a burglar? _She asked herself panicked, _What if it's some kind of pervert or something?! This is the last thing I need right now! _She heard a sort of crackling like the sound of paper. Then, she felt the intruder stick their hand under her pillow and place the paper under it. _I have a bad feeling that this paper isn't simply the tooth fairy leaving me money…_

Whoever it was pulled their hand out from under her pillow and just then, Fay heard her door open, probably Fai, Kurogane, or Shaoron come to wake her up. He gasped and Fay heard the metallic sound of a sword. She decided that it was time to look alive again. She turned around on her bed to a shocking sight.

_There are two Shaorons?!_

Indeed, there was the Shaoron she met already in the doorway and closer to her was another one wearing a black outfit with a red bat on his chest. _Woah, his eye is blue! Is this the "friend" Fai was talking about who stole his eye?! _Fay thought.

The two Shaorons were glaring intensely at each other, one with a cold stare and the other one full of conflicting sadness and anger. The colder-looking one broke the staring contest when he threw himself at Shaoron. The resulting fight was back and forth with the clashing of swords, as even as could be.

Fai and Kurogane rushed in, summoned by noise of the fight. However, they surprised Fay by not joining in the fight. She saw why when her Shaoron pulled his sword back and charged it with bright blue lightning and shouted "Raitei Shourai!" The flash was blinding and created a giant explosion of drywall dust, most likely resulting from the giant hole that was just blown in Fay's wall.

The other Shaoron seemed unfazed. _How did that not hurt him?_ Soon, he was readying his own attack and both Fai and Kurogane rushed in front of Fay just in time to shield her from the scorching flames that erupted from Shaoron's sword. She looked up, thinking that the attack must have caused some kind of damage to her Shaoron. However she was relieved to see that he was fine, having split the fire like butter around him with his sword. Now the room was full of smoke and dust. No one could see a thing. Once the dust cleared, they saw that the other Shaoron was gone. _He must have used the flames as a distraction so he could escape. _

Then, Fay noticed the wreckage that used to be her room. _This kind of damage looks familiar…_ The room was full of ash and burned sword-slashes in the walls. Just like – _"Oh my…" _Fay whispered in shock. The wreckage looked exactly like the destruction in the woods where Yuui was kidnapped.

**Dun-dun-dun… ominous cliffhanger**

…

**Fay: Tooth Fairy? …really?**

**Me: Don't ask me what goes on in my brain! You don't want to know! Heck, sometimes **_**I**_** don't even want to know!**

**Fay: You're probably right, there…**

**Me: The readers may want to know, what's with the indifferent reaction to a burglar coming into your house?**

**Fay: Well, we get robbers breaking in all the time. I usually just beat them up myself. But this time, I obviously was not in the mood to deal with it, so I figured I'd just let them take what they want and leave. **

**Me: Your so manly, Fay!**

**Fay: What was that!?**

**Me: Oh, one time, I thought there was a burglar trying to break into my house through the shed and I was freaking out and I called my mom and everything. Then, it turned out just to be the meter-reader. I cried. **

**Fay: …Okay? We really didn't need to know that…anyway…she's almost finished writing the next chapter, believe it or not. So, come back and check soon…Or maybe not… *whispers* **_**She still hasn't quite figured out who the real bad guy is or what his plans are; and unfortunately for everyone, that decision is key to the next chapter so – **_

**Me: Hey, what are you telling people?!**

**Fay: Review this chapter and maybe her strange mind will be stimulated with a miraculous inspiration!! Don't let her leave me crying with my face in the mud for a few months like before!!!**

**Me: Aww…you're still angry about that, huh…*laughs nervously***

**Fay: *glares***

**Me: hehe…I know: its sad that I am fighting a losing battle with a character in my head... 0.o**


	7. The Note

**I'M SO SORRY!!! It took WAY too long to update this chapter!!! I didn't even finish all of it that I wanted to, but I figured you guys deserved an update, even if its not as long as I had originally hoped. **

**You can thank JeltimaBIvory for yelling at me to update this time X3**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tsubasa by CLAMP nor Falls Apart by Thousand Foot Krutch.**

_Then, Fay noticed the wreckage that used to be her room. _This kind of damage looks familiar…_ The room was full of ash and burned sword-slashes in the walls. Just like – "Oh my…" Fay whispered in shock. The wreckage looked exactly like the destruction in the woods where Yuui was kidnapped. _

"You noticed, huh?" Fai asked.

Fay could only nod in response.

"We believe _that_ Shaoron is the one who kidnapped Yuui."

"Also, the one who stole your eye?"

"Yes." Fai answered, surprised she noticed that much.

"Okay…" she said weakly. Her mind still couldn't totally grasp the situation.

"Hey, are you alright?" Kurogane asked, looking at her worriedly. She was looking pale.

As if a trigger was pulled with those words, Fay collapsed. Fai caught her and put her on her bed. He held her up and shook her shoulders to get her to come back.

"Fay…

…okay?...

…stay…us!"

Her vision and hearing were fading. The last thing she saw was Yuui's face before everything blacked out.

XXXXXX

_Meanwhile:_

As soon as he saw the explosion, he started to sprint frantically towards Fay's house. _What kind of trouble did that girl get herself into now?!_

_Crash! "_Oww…"

_What was that? _Kurogane turned around to find Sakura and the bunny thing on the ground, Sakura's legs tangled in the trash cans she apparently tripped over.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were still sick!" Kurogane demanded.

"Sakura's not sick, silly. She's injured!" Mokona insisted.

Ignoring that comment, Sakura explained, "You looked like you needed help. You can't seem to handle crying girls very well…"

"Well…uh…" Kurogane stuttered and blushed slightly, then sighed, "Alright, whatever. You can come, but hurry up! Did you see that explosion?"

"It was blue! It looked like Shaoron's lightning attack!" Mokona said.

"You're right Mokona. I think Fay-chan must be in danger." Sakura said.

"Well, duh! So why the hell are we still standing here?!" Kurogane yelled and rushed off again towards Fay's house. Sakura ran after him, more carefully this time, with Mokona hopping behind her.

When they got closer, there was another explosion, red this time instead of the blue like before. A few seconds later, a boy with short brown hair and black clothes jumped out of the hole in the wall. Sakura gasped. "Oh no, we have to follow him," she said her voice full of pain.

"What about Fay?" Kurogane insisted. "Her house just exploded and you said she was in danger from this Shaoron person!"

"I think she will be alright." She pointed at the house, "_That _Shaoron is not the one attacking. He was probably protecting her. The person that just left the house is the one who attacked." Her face turned grave, "He's who I saw kidnapping Yuui."

"What?!" Kurogane said. _She dropped that bomb suddenly…but, at least it didn't look like he was able to kidnap Fay, too._

"Let's go! We have to chase him!" and Sakura was off, not giving Kurogane the time to make his decision.

He glanced back worriedly at Fay's house, and then followed after Sakura.

_I think I'll be more help this way. She's got others there with her and I would probably just make her cry if I showed up with this news. Plus, she'd probably punch me after I told her I let her brother's kidnapper get away. _"Grrr…"he growled.

XXXXXX

_Back at the house:_

Fay groaned. Her head was pounding. She tried to get up, but she was too weak and fell back down. Then, she noticed her surroundings. She was still in her room, but there was a huge hole in her wall and rubble everywhere. The only area remotely clear was an area around her bed and a path to the door. It looked like somebody purposely cleared stuff out of the way.

Then, she remembered what happened. Shaoron, the fight: her head was starting to hurt again. _What did he come here for? _She asked herself, thinking back. _He didn't kidnap me, and he ran away as soon as he could. What was the point of breaking in if he was just going to leave without taking anything? _Then, she remembered the note. _That's right, he left a paper under my pillow. _She reached under and it was still there. She took it out and read it…

…_What the heck is this?! _Just then, her thought was interrupted when she heard footsteps coming towards her door. She quickly stuffed the note under her pillow. _I can't let anyone see this. _The steps paused and her door opened gently. It was Fai, apparently come to check on her. She gave a gentle wave and her very best I'm-not-hiding-anything smile.

"You're awake!" he said happily; and in response to her weird wave and creepy smile, "…and abnormally cheerful…are you still in shock?" He looked a little worried.

Fay relaxed, "No, I think I'm okay…so that was the one who kidnapped my brother?" She asked quietly.

"Unfortunately, we are quite sure it is," he said sadly. "What we are wondering though, is why he came here. He didn't seem particularly interested in kidnapping you or he would have kept trying until he succeeded instead of running away as soon as Shaoron showed up. Why would he go through the trouble of coming if he wasn't going to do anything…?" Fai wondered.

"Uh, I don't know?…" she said nervously.

"Are you sure you didn't see anything?"

"Nope! Nothing at all!" She said a little to quickly and cheerfully.

Fai looked at her suspiciously for a moment, but let it go. "Okay, but if you remember anything you think was a little odd, let us know, okay?" Fai implored.

"Alright." Fay agreed.

"Okay, now that's all set, are you feeling well enough to eat dinner? I imagine you are rather hungry since you missed lunch."

"I missed lunch!? I'm starving!" Fay declared.

"Okay!" Fai smiled. "Kuro-puu! This girl needs some food right away! On the double!!" Fai yelled downstairs.

They heard a loud sigh and Kurogane stomping up the steps. He opened the door, bringing with him a tray of food. "What am I, a servant now!? And don't call me Kuro-puu! Its Kurogane!!"

"Whatever you say Kuro-tan!" Fai laughed.

"Hey, I just told you, its Kurogane!" Kurogane insisted.

"Don't get mad, Kuro-pon!" Fay joked.

"Great, now there's two idiots mocking my name…"

Fay and Fai laughed more, bordering on hysterical.

With that, he stomped out of the room, muttering something about having no respect and Kurogane being a noble name and such. But just as he was leaving, Fay saw him smile the slightest bit.

"He was worried about you." Fai told her softly after they heard him stomp down the stairs. "But he would never let himself show it."

Fay stared solemnly out the door after Kurogane. _I can't let anyone see this note. It would hurt them too much…_

XXXXXX

_That night:_

Fay-with Shaoron's note in hand-opened her door as quietly as she could and snuck down the stairs without making a sound. _I remember when me and Yuui used to sneak out when we were kids. Most the time, we were caught. But one time we did make it out; only to see how dark and scary it is outside at night and run right back in. I wish we could go back to that time…_

Suddenly the light flicked on and she was blinded. "Good evening," she heard a voice to her right say and saw Fai through her squinted eyes. She quickly hid Shaoron's note behind her back.

"What are you doing at-" he looked at the clock, "-2 o'clock in the morning?" he asked suspiciously.

"Um…well…" she couldn't think of any excuse. _I have a feeling he would see through my lie, even if I tried._

"Shaoron did do something when he broke into your room, didn't he?" Fai said quietly, "Could it possibly have anything to do with that paper behind your back?"

_I can't let him see it, he'd stop me for sure! _"Um, no, this is just–just–a to-do list?" _Wow, I'm a bad lier._

"Can I see it?" Fai asked.

"Um. No?" Fay said. Fai just glared at her, the way parents glare at children to make them uncomfortable when they are lying. Fay hated that stare because it always seemed to work on her. And it did: she started crying, "I didn't want to tell you! It would hurt everyone, too much. That's why I wanted to sneak out.Then, I could get Yuui back and no one could stop me!"

"Get Yuui back, what are you talking about?" Fai asked, surprised at her outburst.

"That's what this note says! If I hand myself in, they'll let Yuui go!" Fay sobbed and handed Fai the note.

As he read it, his face became darker. "What are they trying to do?" He asked himself quietly.

"Please, Fai, let me go! I need to save him!" Fay begged desperately.

"No way, this is definitely a trap. We can figure out what their aim is and save Yuui that way." Fai tried to convince her.

"But they said they'd kill him if I don't hand myself in!" Fay yelled louder than she intended. She probably woke up the whole neighborhood.

"If you hand yourself in, they'll kill you!" Fai said louder than normal.

"I don't care!"

"Why don't you care!?"

"Yuui deserves to live much more than I do!"

"I can't let you do this again!!" Fai yelled hysterically.

Fay paused in her arguing. "Again…?"

Fai was silent, but his face was full of anger and grief, much more passionate emotions than she ever imagined he could show on his face. He looked away and flew (not stomped) up the stairs faster than Fay thought possible. She stood there in shock.

Kurogane, who must have shown up when she wasn't paying attention, was the first to break the silence. "Damn, I've never seen the wizard so mad before. It's scary…What did you do?" He asked curiously, rather than condemningly.

Fay just shook her head and went upstairs after him. _What could have gotten him that angry. And what did he mean by again?_

_**Phew!**_

**Me: Too tired to write entertaining author's note…**

**Fay: You think these are entertaining?**

**Me: Oh, shut up!**

**Fay: well, grrr…**

**Me: XP -sticking out tongue**

**Fay: I think they know what "XP" means…**

**Me: I didn't until recently, so leave me **_**alone!!**_

**Fay: Hehe…**

**Me: Sigh. Just review and maybe it'll make me inspired to update faster…**

**if my teachers stop giving me so much freaking homework…**

**and if I don't fail my SAT on Saturday…**

…**sigh…**


	8. Explanations

**Hello. Sorry again for not updating in a while…I feel like I am apologizing at the beginning of all of my chapters…that's sad…**

**Anyway, I had in my mind exactly what I wanted to happen in this chapter, but have REALLY not been in the mood to write. My teachers did**_** not**_** stop giving me so much homework. In fact, I have been getting more. Plus, this month was soooo busy because it was my birthday on the 11th and I had friends over (we played with my keyblade and locked Amanda in the closet and saw the Percy Jackson movie and I traded my left arm for claim over Riku! Long story, don't ask X3) Then I had my family over and I had a test on the 13****th**** for my astronomy class and we had an AWESOME 6 day weekend because of the snow!! And that's the weekend that I was in the mood to write…I was definitely not in the mood to write this past weekend. However, on the plus side, we had an early dismissal on Thursday, then a snow day Friday!! And I tried to post this yesterday, but it wasn't accepting my documents for some reason, so now I'm finally posting this, having skipped doing a bunch of homework to get this done X3. Yay procrastination!**

…**Yeah, you probably don't care about any of that…Sorry for ranting. On with the chapter:**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles by CLAMP, nor do I own the song Falls Apart by Thousand Foot Krutch.**

_Last Chapter:_

"_I can't let you do this again!!" Fai yelled hysterically._

_Fay paused in her arguing. "Again…?"_

Fay followed Fai up the stairs and she thought she saw him go onto the balcony, but when she got there, she didn't see him. She heard from the roof above her, "I'm up here." She turned around to see Fai sitting on the roof staring at the stars. She just stared at him for a few seconds, realizing how beautiful her twin really was.

She was startled out of her reverie when Fai said, "Are going to come up, or are you afraid of heights?"

"No. I'm coming." And she started struggling to climb up onto the roof. Fai had to come over and help her, and then he went back to his spot and stared at the stars again.

"So, is there anything you want to talk about?" Fay asked kind of awkwardly. She's always tended not to be the most diplomatic of people when it comes to comforting someone.

"You're not asking me questions?" Fai said in mock surprise. "I was up here anticipating an interrogation!" He smiled.

She did not smile back. "Why do you do that?" she asked.

"Do what?" Fai replied.

"Smile. When you're obviously not happy."

His smile disappeared, "…I'm not sure. It's more comfortable this way I guess…"

"What do you mean?"

"I told you that I had a Fay in my world, too, right? Well, our personalities were complete opposites just like you and Yuui. She was outgoing, I was shy. She was brave, I was scared. Even through that, though, we were best friends—inseparable. Then, she died…" He sounded like he had more to say, but the pain that had been pervading his voice finally took over and he had to stop and take a break for a moment.

"After she was…gone, I was lost. Who was I without Fay beside me? I didn't know what to do. I was taken in by the king of another country, Ashura-ou. He cared for me like my father never did. He helped me carry Fay's body to his castle and encouraged my study of magic to learn some way to fulfill my dream of getting Fay back, just how you want to get Yuui back." Fai sighed.

"Eventually, I decided to let go of my self and live the life that Fay was unable to. That is why I took her name and I am now Fai. When I took her name, I also took her personality, somewhat. I am an introvert pretending to be an extrovert. I'm a coward pretending to be courageous. I don't think I even care what happens to me anymore, because I let go of myself a long time ago."

He looked over at Fay to see what her reaction was to all this. He started when he saw the tears gushing down her face. She tried to cover it up. She said, "I'm sorry. Is that why you got mad at me for wanting to turn myself in?"

He looked away and hesitated. "It would be so much easier to say yes to that question, but then I would feel guilty about lying." He hesitated, "If I'm telling you, I may as well tell you everything."

Fay's eyes widened._ What else could have possibly gone wrong in his life? _she thought, horrified.

He continued, "I'm going to tell you a story that has been told by the people of my country for years:

"In the country of Valeria, there lived a happy royal family. When the kingdom learned that the queen was pregnant, there was much celebration. Everyone anticipated the day the new prince would be born. Then, everything started to go wrong. Instead of one baby like they anticipated, out came two–a boy and a girl—twins." Fay gasped at this and was about to interrupt, but Fai signaled her to shush and let him finish.

"In my world, twins were considered the source of the greatest of misfortune. The happiness of twins brought about destruction of the country. It was a sin just for twins to _exist_." The pain in his voice made him falter for a moment before he could continue.

"His majesty died suddenly, and everyone knew it was the twins' fault. Water was contaminated, crops stopped growing. The queen committed suicide because she brought the evil twins into the world. Everything, every misfortune, was the twins' fault. What was worse, the twins possessed immense magical powers. When they were together, they were more powerful than the sovereign of the land. Unfortunately, the people did not dare kill the twins, because it was said that the murder of twins would bring even greater misfortune! One day, they were called to the sovereign's throne room. He declared:

'_O, unhappy twins.  
You shall be imprisoned.  
We will seal your cursed bodies away,  
And with you will be sealed the calamity that you bring.  
As twins you are damned to sorrow.  
And your magics ensure a lifelong damnation.  
Damned at birth.  
And the more sorrow and pain you feel,  
The greater our kingdom will prosper.  
The greater the happiness of our people.  
That is your curse!_

_These twins will be taken by separate paths.  
To a valley_ _where magics are rendered useless.  
A valley where time flows at a different pace.  
One at the top.  
One at the bottom.  
As twins you shall live in great pain and sorrow,  
And the people shall be happy!_

_Into that valley is where we cast the guilty!  
The guilty do not deserve to lie safely in a grave!  
In the valley, they do not decay.  
They stay in exactly the same condition as when they were thrown in.  
That is the fate the guilty deserve!_

_It is the most accursed place in our country!  
And you twins will go there, not to live, but to exist!  
Choose!  
If you balk at that fate,  
ONE OF YOU MUST DIE!'_

"The twins looked at each other and reached a silent agreement. Neither could bear to kill the other. They held their hands in front of the sovereign in refusal of his offer. At that he declared:

'_Then let the twins be taken to the valley!  
And they shall never be allowed to leave!  
Not until the world itself comes to an end!'"_

"What?!" Fay interrupted. "They put the twins in jail just because they were born together?! That's insane!"

"Indeed," Fai replied. "But you cannot blame the people for being afraid. Everyone is afraid of those more powerful than themselves and would do anything to make them go away. It is likely the reason twins were considered 'evil' was because they could be more powerful than the sovereign, and it would not do to have twins take over the kingdom. But no matter what makes sense, people believe what they believe. Those beliefs drive all their actions, whether they are 'correct' or not."

"Imagine how those beliefs affected the twins—still fragile children. The boy was thrown into the valley while the girl was locked in the tower. They could not reach each other, no matter how far they stretched and how hard they cried out. The boy in the valley was surrounded by the bodies of criminals. It tortured his sanity to be surrounded by so much death. Soon, people began to fall in that were not normal criminals. They were women, children, and the elderly. They were not dressed in the clothes of the guilty and the boy could not understand what they could have done to deserve such treatment. He desperately tried to get out, free his twin, and find out what was going on in his country.

"One day, a man in fell that had a scroll in his hand. It said:

'_The Valerian Sovereign, in his fits of insanity,  
Put innocent people to death.  
And now no one can stop him.  
We beg for foreign armies to help us.  
The blame for all of this falls on the twin princes  
Born to our country.  
It is all the fault  
Of the unhappy twins.'_

"The message would never reach the other countries. The king killed off people until there was no one left. Finally, the sovereign himself fell—bloody and half-dead—into the valley. His eyes were crazed and he grabbed onto the boy twin and said:

'_It's all a calamity that you brought!  
The birth of you two was the start of all sorrow!  
Now, the only ones left in the country who breath,  
Are you two and me.  
And this is where it all ends!'_

"The sovereign loomed over the boy, sword in hand, and sliced through his own throat, splattering the boy with blood.

'_The only ones in the country who still draw breath,  
Are the two of you!  
O, unhappy twins.  
Live, and attempt to atone for your guilt.'_

"The boy was devastated and the sovereign's words affected him deeply. He bore the grief and guilt of the deaths of the innocent citizens of his country. He cried out in pain. His twin in the tower cried his name because she knew his pain and hated that she could do nothing about it. The boy's mind swirled with guilty thoughts and cried out,

'_Is it a sin, just to be alive?!'_

"The boy collapsed and let the snow cover him. His twin saw all this full of regret,

'_I'm sorry.  
If I had just died, you wouldn't have had to go through any of this, Yuui!  
I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.  
I've had enough! I want to die!  
If I die, then Yuui can get out of here!  
If we aren't twins, he can live!  
I WANT TO DIE!  
Someone save Yuui!'_

"Then, a voice spoke to the boy lying in the snow:

'_Do you want to leave this place?  
This is no dream. It is reality!  
I can grant your wish.  
But only one can leave.  
You must choose!  
Between you and the other one!_

"The boy wanted desperately to get out of that place." Fai was silent for a moment, trying to compose his thoughts. He continued in almost a whisper, "Before he gave an answer, he saw a body falling from the window at the top of the tower. The twins locked eyes for a split second, the last they would see of each other alive. The voice continued as the boy stared terrified at his twin's…body:

'_You have made your choice.  
And this was the result!  
This life was snuffed out on your choice.  
You must take the responsibility of it onto yourself.  
That is your curse!_'

"The boy was shocked. How could he kill his own sister? How could he be so selfish as to choose himself –over her?" Fai's voice cracked with pain. He had a far away look in his eyes that was too sad to describe.

He took deep breaths, and was silent. Fay and he both were.

_This is just too much to take in! _Fay thought to herself. _I mean, I accepted the existence of other worlds easily enough, but it never occurred to me that they could be that insane. But that's his life! That's what he lived through and is somehow still alive and trying to smile!_

Fai finally looked at her. He wiped the tears off her cheeks as well as he could before new tears came in to replace them. He smiled that fake, sad smile again and said, "I'm sorry."

Fay was surprised and asked, "What are you sorry for?"

"I burdened you with this and made you sad. I just felt bad about lying to you. I'm sorry. It was selfish of me," he replied gently and looked away, ashamed.

Fay laughed, startling Fai. "That's ridiculous! _You, _are apologizing to _me_?! For making me sad that _your _life sucks?! You are RIDICULOUS!" She started laughing in that hysterical way that is usually a sign of intense mental turmoil.

"Uhh…" Fai said, worried about her. "I think you need to go to bed. This was a little too much for you to handle…"

"No…" Fay too a few deep breaths and calmed down. She sighed, "I'll be alright. It's just – your story is so crazy. It's not like I don't believe you, but its just unbelievable…I don't really get it myself…"

"I know the feeling," Fai chuckled darkly.

"So…you got angry before…because you didn't want my life to be sacrificed for Yuui like your Fay's life was sacrificed for you?" Fay said carefully.

Fai nodded.

"I'm sorry I almost put you through that again…" Fay confessed sadly and regretfully.

Fai stared at the stars. "Please, just promise me you won't do this." He turned to her with tears in his eyes, "Promise me!"

"I promise," she replied softly, looking him in the eye. "I don't want to cause you pain like that again."

Fai exhaled a quick sigh of relief and turned away in an attempt to hide the single tear that rolled down his cheek. They just sat there—silent—for a few moments, watching the stars.

"Y'know," Fai said suddenly. "You're the first person I ever told this to. I'm not sure how I feel…"

"You didn't even tell Ashura-ou?"

"I never had to. I had a feeling he knew already, without my telling him."

"Oh." She didn't know what else to say. "You have friends, you know? I can see how close a group you, Kurogane, and Shaoron are. I'm not telling you that you have to tell them, or anything like that, but I think they would understand. They wouldn't hate you like you think they would."

Fai inhaled."Maybe," He replied noncommittally. Fay could tell that conversation was over.

They layed there examining the sky for a few more minutes. "So, how did you begin travelling with Kurogane and Shao—yawn—" Fay said tiredly.

"Hehe," Fai chuckled, flashing what looked like a real smile for once, albeit a small one. "That is a long story for another day. You have to get to bed or you're going to fall off the roof."

"But I'm not—yawn—sleepy!" she complained, trying unsuccessfully to stifle another yawn.

"Oh really?" And he gave her the don't-lie-to-me look again, in a more playful way this time. "Then, why are your eyes closed?"

"I'm just resting them."

"Haha!" Fai laughed out loud. "Come on," he said, "you've had a long day. Your mind needs rest."

"—sigh—Okay," she gave in and let him help her off the roof and to the bed of her guest room (her room was still a wreck).

She fell into bed, exhausted.

"Goodnight," Fai said softly as he left the room; and just as he was leaving, Fay thought she saw a flash of pain on his face, which would not register in her mind until she woke up the next morning.

XXXXXX

_Meanwhile:_

_Geez, this kid is fast! _Kurogane thought as he, Sakura, and Mokona trudged up the mountain. They were all out of breath and frustrated. It had been a while since they started the chase and they had not seen Shaoron for the past two hours. They were just blindly following their instincts and Mokona's instructions. _Apparently the bunny thing can talk _and_ "sense" things…weird…_

"Hey, you look like you're going to die," Kurogane told Sakura.

"That's not a nice thing to say to a girl!" Mokona interceded.

"I think you're right," Sakura said, huffing. "We should take a break for a couple minutes…maybe stop for the night?"

"Sure." Kurogane agreed. _Thank God! I'm freaking tired!_ Kurogane thought as they settled down in a little alcove of trees they found. "So, who's this Shaoron person?" Kurogane asked nonchalantly.

Sakura looked sad. "He used to travel with me and my group. I told you we are collecting my memories in the form of feathers, right?"

"Yeah."

"When we started out, I was sleeping most of the time. I was weak and I had absolutely no memory of anything. When I woke up for the first time, Shaoron-kun was there. I didn't even know who he was. I still don't, but I have a feeling he's someone very important to me—" Sakura froze for a minute and seemed to space out. Before Kurogane could say anything however, she came back. "Excuse me. What were we talking about?"

"Who is Shaoron?" Mokona reminded her. Mokona seemed unfazed by the situation, so Kurogane figured it was a regular occurrence…_Though, the bunny did look kind of sad, if that was possible. _

"Oh, yes. So he travelled with our group and helped me so much to find my feathers. He was the nicest person I know…"

"What happened? Why is he attacking people, then?" Kurogane was captivated.

"One of the worlds we went to, its name was Tokyo. It was a world devastated by acid rain and the only hideouts were rival towers that fought over what clean water there was left. Everything went wrong. Shaoron started acting weird. All of a sudden, he would get very cold and he didn't feel like the Shaoron we knew at all, but the whole time, he was focused on getting back my feather. Then, Shaoron was fighting with a vampire and he was injured badly. He became—not himself. His eyes were cold. He violently fought back against the vampire. Fai-san, our Fai-san, tried to stop him—to bring him back—but then the water started swirling in a giant whirlpool. Shaoron's heart was trying to leave his body. Fai-san tried his best to stop it, but he wasn't powerful enough. His heart fell on the ground, and he didn't care at all—" Sakura had to stop to utter a small whimper.

She took a deep breath and continued, "Shaoron grabbed Fai-san off the ground, weak from his attempt to save him. He said that Fai's magic was contained in his eyes, right? And that he could use that magic to help him gather feathers. So he plucked Fai's eye out and—ate it—in order to gain magical powers. Kurogane—the older one—came and attacked Shaoron after he saw him covered in Fai's blood and holding the unconscious Fai-san. Shaoron was too powerful. Even when Kurogane threw him against a wall and broke his arm, he just got up and kept fighting. Above, another dimensional tunnel was opening up, like the ones that our group travels in. Out of it came another Shaoron. He saw what destruction our Shaoron had caused and said that he got there too late.

"You see, the Shaoron we had been travelling with was a clone of the original Shaoron—Clow Reed's successor—made by a bad man we learned to be named Fei Wong Reed. He was created to travel with me and collect my feathers so that my body will remember all the different worlds I've visited and Fey Wong can use that power for himself. But as the clone was being created, Shaoron broke through the barrier separating them and gave his clone half of his heart so that maybe-just maybe-the clone could use that heart as a seed to grow his own as he travelled with friends. Unfortunately, so far it looks like he hasn't…" Sakura let out a long sad sigh.

"So, now, I am chasing after Shaoron. I believe that he did form a heart. That kindness of his could not have just been the result of having half of someone else's heart!...And even if he didn't form a heart, I feel like I _must _chase after him, to at least try to stop some of the destruction he causes to the worlds he goes to in search of my memories." Sakura looked determined. Now Kurogane understood why she was so anxious to follow him to see what he was up to.

Kurogane was about to say something about her story, when she said, "What I don't understand—" she paused for a moment, trying to work out her half-formed thoughts "—is why Shaoron is going around kidnapping people. In all the other worlds we've chased after him to, he had destroyed everything to find the feather. He killed innocent people and utterly devastated that world, some to the point of no return…So why is this one different? And why did he go through the trouble of attacking your Fay's home, and not seeming to take anything or anyone?" Sakura wondered ominously.

Suddenly, she asked, "Mokona, have you even sensed a feather here yet?"

Mokona paused. "I feel something familiar, but I'm not sure what…" Mokona said regretfully, after a moment.

"That's okay, Mokona," she said, smiling kindly. Then she looked away and Kurogane saw a worried and fearful expression on her face.

Kurogane thought, _I don't totally understand, but I get the feeling something is very very wrong here. _

XXXXXX

As Fai closed Fay's door, he wore a painful expression.

"Oy, baka!" Kurogane said, emerging from the shadows and startling Fai for a split second. Fai turned to Kurogane with a fake smile on his face.

"Oh, good evening, Kuro-tan! What are you up to at this time of night?"

"You two were yelling loud enough to wake the whole neighborhood. What's going on?"

"Nothing, nothing," Fai said, waving it away with his hand.

Kurogane glared at him, "You and I both know that 'nothing' is not what's going on here. You've been acting weird since we got to this world and met that girl. I know you don't want to tell me how she is related to you. She's obviously someone from your past, which you haven't trusted us enough to share."

Fai flinched at that. He thought about what Fai had said to him, '_You have friends, you know...I think they would understand...'_

Kurogane continued, "I don't really care _what_ happened in your past. But when you start acting like _that_, it affects me. I need to know, is this going to jeopardize helping the kid and the princess? You remember—that's what we're supposed to be doing right? You can't get held up in one world."

"We have to help her save her brother," Fai reminded Kurogane seriously.

"Yeah, I know. But we can't get that involved. We know this involves that kid, so we can't leave without checking it out; but if we can't save her brother, you can't get stuck here. You promised the princess." Kurogane reminded Fai right back.

"I know," Fai said sadly. He looked away from Kurogane and said softly, "But this girl is someone very important to me that I lost a long time ago. I _have_ to help her."

Kurogane sighed. He'd never seen Fai so determined to do _anything_ before. "Whatever," he said grudgingly. "Just remember, she's not the same person you knew. She has her own life to live. You told me something like that, right? When we ran into Tomoyo. Take your own advice," Kurogane growled, and with that, he walked away and left Fai to sort out his thoughts.

"_I know, Kuro-sama." _Fai said to himself,"_But I have to do this." _

XXXXXX

_The next morning:_

Fay opened her eyes groggily and yawned. She looked at the clock. _1 o'clock?!_ _I must really have been tired. After all, I was up until 4a.m._ she thought to herself. Sunlight was streaming in the window and she could hear the town awake and alive as it normally was during the day (cars driving by, dogs barking, birds chirping, etc.). But something was wrong. Even with all those sounds, it was too quiet. She didn't hear Fai and Kurogane fighting downstairs or smell lunch cooking. She didn't hear any sounds from within the house. She got up quickly, worried that something must have happened.

Fay walked down the hall and knocked on Fai's door. She didn't hear an answer, so she peeked into the room and swung the door wide open when she saw that Fai wasn't there. She ran downstairs to see if he was in the kitchen; just being particularly quiet today. He wasn't there. She searched the entire floor and she still couldn't find him. She was starting to get anxious. Fay ran back upstairs and barged into Kurogane's room.

"Kuro-sama!" she yelled to wake him up.

"Grr…name's Kurogane…" he mumbled in his sleep and rolled over.

"Wake up!" she yelled and ran over and opened the curtains. "I can't find Fai!"

"Whaa—What's goin' on…?" he said sleepily, squinting at Fay.

"I CAN'T FIND FAI!" She exclaimed, "I looked everywhere: he's gone!"

"What?!" He seemed to be more awake now. He looked at the clock and flinched. "Geez, I'm never sleeping this long. Something's definitely up. Did you wake the kid up yet?" He asked, still tired.

Fay ran across the hall to Shaoron's room. "Shaoron, wake up! Fai is gone." She opened his curtains, too.

He woke up a lot easier than Kurogane. "What?" he asked.

"I can't find Fai," she explained. "Do you know if he was going anywhere?"

"No—" Shaoron said, then froze for a minute. "Magic!" he exclaimed.

"What are you talking about?" Fay asked, confused at his outburst.

"I can sense magic in the air: everywhere—surrounding this house. Fai-san must have put a sleeping spell on us."

"Why would he do that?" Kurogane said from the doorway. Fay hadn't noticed he was standing there.

"I don't know," Shaoron said perplexed.

Kurogane turned his glare on Fay and asked her suspiciously, "What were you two fighting about last night?"

Fay thought for a moment and gasped, "Oh no!" She got up and rant to her room. Shaoron and Kurogane followed her and watched as she rummaged through her room. Then she froze, seemed to think for a minute, and ran downstairs. She seemed to be frantically looking for something.

Just as Shaoron was about to ask her what she was looking for, Fay sat down on the floor and said softly, "It's gone."

"What is?"

"The note: it's gone. He must have taken it with him." Fay said dejectedly.

"What are you talking about?" Kurogane insisted.

"I think Fai went to get Yuui back. He's going to give himself up, like I was going to before he got angry at me." Fay told them painfully and tears filled her eyes.

The two others started. "Baka," Kurogane grumbled to himself and Shaoron looked sad.

Fay wondered, _How could he do this? _

**A/N: Cliffhanger again! (I really need to stop doing these because then people get mad at me for not updating…I update about once a month…sometimes…). **

**Me: Oh! In case you care at all, I didn't fail my SAT XD. I got a 2190!!!! AHHHHH!!!**

**Kuro-teen: What?! You?!**

**Me: What's that supposed to mean?! I is smart!!**

**Kuro-teen: Yeah, **_**okay**_**.**

**Fay: *punches Kurogane in the arm* Don't make fun of smart people because you're jealous! I got a 2400!!**

**Me and Kuro: *stare at Fay in disbelief***

**Fay: What?**

**Me and Kuro: *mumble incoherently about the test being rigged and start growing mushrooms in the corner***

**Fay: You guys are mean!**

**Tsubasa Group: *stare in confusion* What's an SAT?? **

**(In case you are wondering, SATs are standardized tests that colleges look at to determine your future and blah blah blah. A 2400 is the maximum score you can get, which is practically impossible.)**

**Me again: I seem to be getting very off topic in these author's notes, and I apologize. These conversations with the characters in my head tend to be interesting and they help me develop the characters. (So there is a practical reason for my insanity, believe it or not!)**

**Thanks so much for reading! Review if you want to! (I know this chapter was overly long and nothing much happened at all, so I would understand if you would not want to grant me the pleasure of being reviewed for this reason.)**


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